Background

In 2005 a peace deal was signed in Southern Sudan to end the 20 year civil war in which 2 million people died. This conflict devastated the region and has left one of the worst social situations in the world; 1 in 4 children will die before the age of five, only 2% of children will complete primary school and 90% of people live below the absolute poverty line of $1 per day.

Five Talents' Work

Five Talents has joined a consortium of charities working together with the local church to provide a wide ranging development package for the area. Some of the key needs identified for reconstruction include access to credit, sources of goods, infrastructure, organisation and training. Five Talents' role is to provide training and support towards the development of small enterprise and in the longer run to establish a full microfinance programme.

Since September 2005 a pilot programme has been running in Lietnhom in Gogrial East County, serving a community of 25,000 - 30,000 people spread out in villages across the area. The pilot programme was very successful and is now being scaled up with help from Five Talents and other partners. The main components of the project are:

1) Adult Education: With an adult literacy rate of just 24% (only 12% for women), basic literacy skills are a major focus. A drama-based curriculum has been developed that provides basic literacy, numeracy and business skills to adult participants. The business skills curriculum consists of practical lessons from business failures, financial management issues, customer orientation, market orientation, use of waste, developing natural talents, seeing business opportunities, business plan development, marketing, and dealing with non-controllable factors. 270 clients were trained during the Pilot phase and the project plans to train 9 trainers and a further 300 clients over 2 years.

2) Village Bank: A Village Bank has been established and by December 2007 it had 302 clients participating in savings and credit services. The loan fund is managed by the Village Bank members and lent out to their own members in Lietnhom, the majority of whom are engaged in small trade businesses. Five Talents will help to expand this service to an additional 350 members (total c.650). The Bank is the only financial services institution for 100 miles radius.

3) Developing Micro-Enterprises: 120 clients have already been assisted in developing new or existing micro enterprises. Most are traders, though some are developing production and service companies. The project intends to develop a further 70 enterprises through provision of business advice and small loans.

4) Medium Enterprise Investment Opportunities: The project team, working closely with the local community, has identified a range of potential investment opportunities for the development of larger businesses that will serve the community with goods and services, provide employment and generate wealth. These businesses will be developed with the assistance of Integra, an organization who specializes in small to medium enterprise development. Five Talents hopes to identify and prepare 5 more businesses for such support.

Invitation

Please consider supporting this programme. This is crucial work that is reaching some of the poorest people in the world. The total budget over two years is £250,000 shared across the project partners. Five Talents UK is aiming to raise £100,000 towards this goal.

More Information

Read the lastest report on the project

Read our press release at the launch of this project or a report from Jim Oakes on his visit in December 2007

Religious Intelligence featured an article on the project in January 2008.

Click here to read case studies from this country and others.

Watch our two-minute Sudan video here.